LONDON, July 16 (Reuters) - The dollar stayed under pressure on Friday , hovering near two-month lows versus a currency basket, after a series of U.S. data this week underscored a slackening in the economy's recovery.

The euro remained close to a two-month high after gaining 1.6 percent on Thursday as problems in the euro zone took a back seat and attention shifted squarely to the U.S. economy and a dovish growth outlook from the Federal Reserve.

But analysts said further weakening in the dollar versus other major currencies, particularly the euro, could be limited.

The dollar's adjustment can be justified as the Fed may have to do more easing, but in the longer term it could start to benefit from safe-haven flows, said Jane Foley, research director at Forex.com.

If the Fed isn't going to hike, it's hard to see the ECB hiking first, she added.

At 0740 GMT, the euro was trading close to flat on the day at $1.2935, after rallying to $1.2955 on Thursday, with topside options structures hampering further gains.

Heavily concentrated optionality around the $1.3000 level contributed to the euro's inability to rally, a London-based sales trader said.

Technical analysts said the picture for the euro had been improved by Thursday's close above the Ichimoku cloud at $1.2785 for the first time since December.

A break above $1.3000 would bring resistance at $1.3125 into play, the 38.2 percent retracement of the euro's fall from November to June.

The single currency has risen more than 8 percent from a four-year low of $1.1875 hit on June 7 after smooth government debt auctions in Greece, Portugal and Spain eased concerns about the euro zone's sovereign debt problems.

Market participants closely watched whether the dollar could hold above its July 1 low of 86.96 yen, its lowest since early December, as a fall below that level could boost the possibility of the greenback dropping to 84.82 yen, a 14-year low reached last November.

Last December the Bank of Japan called an emergency meeting soon after the dollar slid to the 14-year trough, and decided to pump 10 trillion yen ($114.5 billion) in three-month funds into the banking system.

The yen's latest rise has brought it to levels that could cause pain to Japanese exporters if its gains are sustained, with the BOJ's tankan survey showing the average forecast for the dollar/yen rate in the year to next March among large manufacturers is 90.18 yen.

Traders said there was talk of stop-loss dollar offers at levels below 87.00 yen.

The dollar slid 0.2 percent to 87.22 yen after falling as low as 86.97 yen.

The dollar index dipped 0.2 percent to 82.364 .DXY. Earlier this month, the dollar index broke below the daily Ichimoku cloud, suggesting more losses may be in store.

The New Zealand dollar dropped after inflation data was weaker than expectations. [ID:nSGE66E018].

The kiwi fell 1.3 percent on the day to $0.7182, having stood at around $0.7270 before the data